Complaints at care home ‘not acted on’

A laundry worker has told a jury how she did not complain about incidents she witnessed in a Lancaster care home because other complaints were not acted on.

Sharon Ormerod spoke at the trial of three workers at Hillcroft Nursing Home, at Slyne, in which she claimed a colleague - cleaner Lisa Greenlands - had been afraid to complain about witnessing an elderly man being slapped by defendant Carol Moore, 54, because her job had been made “unbearable” after a previous complaint she had made.

She said: “I knew things had been reported before to the matron and nothing was done about it.

“There seemed to be no point in reporting any other incidents that we witnessed.”

She told the court she and Mrs Greenlands eventually confided in a worker who was covering when their matron was off.

Moore was the team leader in the Coniston Unit where her two co-defendants Katie Cairns, 27, and Gemma Pearson, 28, also worked.

All three worked on the day shift on the unit, which housed residents diagnosed with dementia and displayed “challenging behaviour”.

All are accused of ill treatment or neglect under the Mental Capacity Act.

Moore faces six charges, Cairns, from Morecambe, four counts and Pearson, from Carnforth, one count, with the allegations spanning a period between May 2010 to September 2011. The charges relate to eight alleged victims.

A fourth man who worked with them, Darren Smith, 35, of Lancaster, has already admitted eight counts and is not on trial.

The court previously heard bean bags that should have been used as part of recreational therapy were thrown so hard and fast residents were unable to catch them and that some residents were mocked, bullied and assaulted.

Moore, of Ripon Avenue, Lancaster, Pearson, of Hill Street, Carnforth and Cairns, of Riverview Court, Morecambe, were arrested last October and told police they were not responsible for any abuse. All three deny all charges.